Rep. Paul Seaton

Greetings from Juneau on this 70th day of the session. It has been an intense and busy week working on the operating budget. The House Floor budget amendment process started last Tuesday and was the House’s focus for the rest of the week. There were 84 amendments submitted, although a few were withdrawn or were ruled out of order. The floor debate has been lengthy, but it is important that everyone be heard. The House will continue debate on…

Greetings from Juneau on this 63rd day of the session. I hope everyone enjoyed St. Patrick’s Day. The House Finance committee finished with the 97 operating budget amendments in Round 2 and passed the budget from committee last Friday. The budget should be on the House Floor today with amendments starting tomorrow. I anticipate we will pass the budget from the House by the end of this week, depending on….

Juneau – Today, the Alaska House of Representatives passed legislation making time-sensitive appropriations to cover unanticipated expenses. House Bill 321, the “fast track” supplemental appropriations bill, totals $110.2 million, of which $92.0 million is from unrestricted general funds (UGF).

Greetings from Juneau on this 56th day of the session, and Happy (early) St. Patrick’s Day this weekend! House Finance began work on the 96 operating budget amendments offered by committee members for round two of our amendment process. We are about three-quarters of the way through and plan to finish up this week. More information under the Budget section on the amendments that have passed so far.

Greetings from Juneau on this 49th day of the session. House Finance held 3 days of public testimony last week for the operating budget. Thank you to everyone from District 31 who called and emailed their suggestions. We had 213 people call and email over the three days. The top issues were: full funding for the University, K-12, and early education programs; increasing the number of….

Greetings from Juneau on this 44th day of the session! I wanted to send out a reminder for public testimony on the Operating Budget which starts Thursday March 1 from 1-3:00pm for District 31. Written testimony may be emailed anytime to HouseFinance@akleg.gov. The subcommittees’ proposed amendments have all been voted on in House Finance and today they were incorporated into new Committee Substitutes for HB 285 Operating Budget and HB 286 Mental health Budget .

Greetings from Juneau on this 42nd day of the session. The House Finance Committee was very busy this week with subcommittee closeouts. Each subcommittee presented their budget recommendations to the full finance committee, with the committee then voting on those amendments. The last subcommittee reports will be…

Greetings from Juneau on this 35th day of the session and Happy Presidents Day. The losses in the Florida school last week wound my heart. I pray that we can find an effective means to prevent such shootings in Alaska and on the Kenai Peninsula. I am encouraged by the voices of the young people who are speaking out for change.